Preparing for the post-pandemic era: Being Agile & an Agile Workforce Development

Never let a crisis go waste!

We have all heard this many times! Well now we can do something about it.  The Pandemic today is compelling us to look at it as an opportunity to learn & evolve given its huge socio-economic impact across the world. I am sharing my thoughts through this article on what we can do to thrive. I invite your views and thoughts to create a meaningful dialogue to find a direction together.

The pandemic is showing us:

1. We can work from anywhere as long as we have a good Internet connection.  Many professionals are experiencing higher productivity with no travel hassles, no traffic jams, and not mention the tremendous amount of time saved. This increases the opportunities available to both organizations and talent beyond geographical boundaries.  Human Capital is now freely available creating what economists call "Perfect Competition".

2. We are more connected than ever before, we have immense power to influence each other sitting thousands of miles away and working together. The millenniums were already showing it through aspects like “crowd funding”, demanding flexibility, WFH, resisting what we considered as “normal” office working hours; well they have indeed proved themselves and it took a pandemic for us to see this! Now the Pandemic has also proven that we are very very connected. A small town of Wuhan has impacted the whole world in less than three months.

3. World has embraced technology like never before.  This is true across all age groups, societies and geographies; even the most resistant ones have had no option but to adapt. We had imagined this change to happen perhaps 5-10 years from now; well it has already happened. Acceptance & adoption of technology has been huge, and is now a game changer for all industries.

   
   
   
   

This raises many pertinent questions on future of talent and how HR & Talent Development functions will evolve. This also opens up many dialogues on taxation, politics, visa-regulations, education and regulatory & economic policies. The multiplier effect will be unimaginably huge with each country reacting and responding differently in this new world. 

“According to Darwin's Origin of Species, it is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.”

Darwin’s theory holds true even today.  Sharing some emerging trends which have high stickiness. I feel these would have significant impact on how business operates, create our vision and values, how we nurture & develop talent, frame HR policies to create value:

1. “Ability to plan” TO “Agility to RE-plan”

2. “Agile Process” TO “Agile People”

3. “Traditional learning” TO “Just in time, bite size learning”

4. “Having a Career” TO “Having a Life”

5. “Defined Location TO Flexible location”

   
   

These shifts are significant and force us to re-think our strategy.  This new level of VUCA is pushing us to re-consider and re-evaluate the mindset, competencies and skills required for the future. We will emerge from the Pandemic, and when we do the world-view will be different, changed forever, how poised and prepared are we?

Preparing to push the RESET button. We need to focus on creating the mindset, attitude & behavior of being agile, adaptive & flexible as individuals and organizations. The faster we accept, faster we move towards thriving. Three key focus areas:

Mindset, Attitude & Behavior:

• Develop a Growth Mindset  - believe that abilities can be developed throughout life

• Be Patient & Understanding – everyone reacts to change differently

• Be Flexible & Adaptive – Shift focus, embrace ambiguity & creative thinking

• Courage – To walk a new path, maybe even create a new path

  

Competency & Skills:

• Physical & Emotional Resilience – Ability to recover quickly from difficulty/ failure

• Be an Agile Learner – Learn quickly & easily, Age is not a limitation, begin a new career path

• Become Tech Savvy! – No other option

  

Actions:

• Challenge existing practices, norms and culture - What needs to Change?

• Be yourself – Show up as your authentic self, ditch the façade

• Connect-Connect-Connect outside your natural network, Cross-fertilization of thoughts and ideas fosters creativity & flexibility, embrace differences

While this is a good list, I am eager to hear about your list. I am passionate about helping organizations and individuals thrive through UPSET’s as they are perfect SETUPs for transformation. Looking forward to your thoughts, ideas, and connecting. 

Also read the research article published by the BBC https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20201023-coronavirus-how-will-the-pandemic-change-the-way-we-work

Who I Work With

Individuals

Mid–senior leaders, founders, solopreneurs in transition.

Includes: Executive coaching, personal clarity, leadership development

Organisations

NGOs, corporations, mission-led businesses

Includes: Sustainable Organization Transformation, Culture change, strategy alignment, leadership learning

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